Dave Portnoy mistakenly buys $170,000 of wrong LIBRA token, pumping it over 3,000%

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy appears to have mistakenly invested nearly $170,000 worth of Solana in a random LIBRA token — not the controversial token linked to Argentinian President Javier Milei.

According to Solscan transaction data , Portnoy bought nearly $170,000 worth of an illiquid LIBRA token causing its price to spike by more than 3,000%. The LIBRA token he purchased has a different contract address than the similarly-named token associated with Milei in recent days, according to The Block Research.

"Anybody wanna buy some fake Libra? Warning. This is a meme coin. I bought it by accident," Portnoy posted to X shortly after purchasing the token. "It will be volatile. It will eventually go to zero. It may rip. It may tank. Don’t put on more than you can lose!!! It’s a collectible."

If Portnoy sells his position in the random LIBRA token at its current price, he would lose more than half of the money he invested. The roughly $170,000 Portnoy invested in the copycat LIBRA token is now worth just over $62,000 after the token fell to below $178 from a high over $289, according to The Block price page .

On Sunday, Portnoy disclosed new details of his involvement in the LIBRA token launch that ensnared Milei in controversy and triggered calls for impeachment. Portnoy said he planned to join the project as an advisor and bought the token upon launch. He later returned about 6 million tokens after the LIBRA project's advisor, Hayden Davis, asked him not to disclose the gift. 

"I'm not going to tweet about this f---ing launch and act like I'm just, 'Oh, Milei's the f---ing best'...and not mention that they have given me coins," Portnoy  said . "And by the way, I bought a shit-ton of it...they never gave me the coins before the launch." 

Over the weekend, the crypto-friendly Milei boosted the newly-launched LIBRA token by promoting it as having a role to play in bolstering Argentinian small businesses. The token shot to a peak market capitalization of $4.5 billion before dramatically losing 95% of its value after Milei revoked his support for the memecoin and several wallets related to the token project cashed out $107 million, according to Lookonchain.

Argentinian lawyers have reportedly charged Milei with fraud amid calls for impeachment.